The FCC said today that it has relaxed some of the rules around how AT&T sells access to its high-speed network.
The biggest change is that AT&T now has more flexibility in what it can charge other companies to access those lines.
What does all this mean for you?
Well, there’s a chance that smaller telecom companies — Sprint is often mentioned — will struggle if AT&T raises its rates substantially, and presumably those higher costs would have to be passed on to you, the consumer, at some point.
It will be more than three years before the new exemptions go into effect, so it’s not like your cell phone bill is going to skyrocket tomorrow.
And, in these battles of corporate titans, it can be tough to separate legitimate complaints about monopoly power from run-of-the-mill business competition.
But I really doubt that consumers are going to swallow major price increases for wireless and broadband Internet access, so I imagine the companies will ultimately figure out how to play nice.
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